1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the disposal of hazardous materials and especially to a process for the recovery of salts from melts which are used in the destruction of hazardous materials. In one of its more particular aspects, this invention relates to a process for recovering such salts in dry, particulate form. In another of its more particular aspects this invention relates to a process for concentrating and recovering values such as plutonium values from wastes containing the same.
2. Prior Art
Many different ways of disposing of hazardous materials have been proposed. One example of a method for disposing of hazardous wastes, such as pesticides, explosives, radioactive wastes and the like, is the use of molten salts to combust wastes containing such hazardous materials.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,642,583, for example, discloses a process for sewage treatment which uses a molten chloride, bromide, nitrate, oxide, hydroxide or sulfate or a mixture thereof to evaporate and combust aqueous materials.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,708,270 discloses a process for combusting organic materials by use of a carbonate-based molten salt.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,845,190 discloses a process for disposing of organic pesticides by means of oxidation in a molten salt. In this process the gaseous products are removed and the non-volatile products remain in the melt.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,145,396 discloses a process for removing volatile radioactive materials such as strontium, cesium, iodine and ruthenium from organic wastes by means of a molten salt bath.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,246,255 discloses a process for the disposal of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB's) using a molten salt.
While the processes disclosed in the prior art provide certain useful techniques for disposing of hazardous wastes and for recovering valuable materials from waste products, none of the prior art processes provides a means for disposing of hazardous wastes in a manner such that the volume of the wastes is reduced to a practical level without disposing of potentially valuable materials along with the hazardous materials.